Control for sheet-feeders.



PATBNTED 00T. e, 190s.

E. T. GLEATHR. GGNTRL FR SHEET FEBDERS. APPLICATION FILED MAY ze, 1902.No MODEL. '1 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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. APPLICATION FILED. EAI' im 1902- NO MODEL. 'l SHEETS-SHEET B. y

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No. 740,532. PATBNTED OCT. 6, 1903.

E. GLEATHERO. GDNTROL POB. SHEET FEBDERS.

l APPLIOATION FILED MAY 26, 17902. m v NO MODEL. '7 SHEBTSi-SEBBT 8.

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GGNTROL POBSHBBT PBBDBRS.

APILIOATION FILED MAY-28, 1902.

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No. 140,532. PATBNTBD ocr.a,19os.

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No. 740,532. PATBNTBD 00T. 6,1903.

E. T. CLEA-THERO.

GONTRGL FDR SHEET FEEDERS.

- APPLICATION FILED my ze, .1902.

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APPLICATION FILED HAY 26| 1902.

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- STATES Patented October i5, 1903.

PATENT n OFFICE...

CONTROL FOR SHEET-FEEDERS.

I SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 740,532, datedOctober 6, 1903. I I l Application filed May 2B, 1902. Serial No.IDQQOZB. (No model.) A

` Beit known'ihat I, EDwaRnTHoMAs CLEA- THERO, residing at The Hollies,Barrington road, Altrincham,in the county of Chester,

England, have invented certain newand use` ful Improvements in Controlfor Sheet-Feed-y ers,.of which the following is a true, full, and cleardescription, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to makeand-use the same.

This invention hasfor its general object totime eiects the stoppage ofthe feederand maintains it stopped until p the double hasy ceased 4toexist or the regular supply of sheets to the feed-table has beenresumed. rThese means may be advan tageously connected withY the controlmechanism of the printing-machine, whereby the latter is stopped by thesame motion. f

As a convenient example the invention is hereinafter described inconnectionwith a machine for printing on sheets of paper, because thereare, it is believed, more of that class of machine tted with automaticsheetfeeders than of any other. The invention, however, is neitherlimited to any particular class of machine served by the sheet-feeder,lnor-to the material of which the sheetsare:y composed.

In the accompanying drawings, which are to be taken as part of thisspecification andi read therewith, Figure 1 -s the right-hand part, andFig. 1fL the left-hand part, of a side elevation, partly broken away, ofsufficient` of one of theimproved sheet-feeders to show the presentimprovements therein Fig. 2, the left-hand part, and Fig. 2a theright-hand part, of an end elevation; and Fig. 3, the lefthand part, andFig. 3a the right-hand part, of a plan of Fig. 1; and Fig. et, asectional elevation,-Fig. 5 a front elevation, and Fig. 6 aplan,ofdetached parts of the machine drawn to'a scale larger than thatto which the other iigures are drawn.

Throughout the diiferentlfigures of the printing-machine by theautomatic sheet-v feeder are piled upon the pile-table 2, as shown inFig. l. The priuting-machine forms no part of the present invention, andconsequently it isconsidered necessary to represent onlyjust sufiicientof it-for example, the impression-cylinder 3 and the control orstoppinglever 4-to indicate the relative positions of it and the feeder.The pile-table 2 is vertically adjustable between the two side frames 55a and by any of the vvoll'knownmeans is automatically raised step bystep as the sheets are successively removed from the top of the pile. Itis from this pile 1, generally from the top of it, that the feeder(forming no part of the present invention, and therefore not representedin the drawings) takes the sheets and feeds them forward to the first orreceiving tape-drum 6, around which andthe second or deliveringtape-drum 7 pass the tapes 8 8, which carry the sheets down'thetape-board 9 to the impression cylinder 3, Figs. 1 and 2, of theprinting-machine. The above-named feeder is required to take thesheetsfrom the pile 1 only one at a time; but sometimes it takes twov atatime. This taking two sheets at double, and to provide for the automaticstoppage of the feederwhen such a double occurs the following mechanismis provided: One or more forwardlycurved and pointedv shoes 10 (only oneis represented in the draw-l fonce is knownA in the printing trade as aL ings) are supported'on a transverse rod or shaft 11, capable ofrockingin bearings 12 12 Ton the before -mentioned side frames 5 5a. Thetoe 13 of each of the said shoes is normally situated to the rear of thegap between the tape-roller 6 and two adjacent coaxial guide-pulleys 1414, mounted on a shaft 15,

,fitted at its two ends in the free ends of two swinging links 16 16,pivoted to brackets 17 17, fast to the side frames 5 A5a. The rockingshaft 11 is lpreferably hollow, and, as shown most clearly in Figs. 4,5, and 6, each of the shoes 10 is attached to it by means of a splitsleeve 18, which maybe adjusted to any desired position on theshaft 11and se- ICO cured in such position by means of`a clamping-screw 18a. Theshoe 10 is separate from the sleeve 18, to which it may be secured invarious positions of adjustment by a clamping-screw 19, which passesthrough a slot in the upright stem of the shoe and engages with ascrew-threaded hole in the sleeve 18. At its upper part the shoe 10 isprovided with a forwardly-projecting perforated lug 20, traversed by anadjusting-screw 21, engaging with a screw -threaded hole in the sleeve18. v 18 and the lug 20 serves to raise the shoe l0 as the screw 21 isunscrewed from the sleeve 18, the clamping-screw 19 being at that timereleased, and subsequently tightened when the shoe has been adjusted tothe desired position.

A lever-arm 23, fast on and projecting forwardly from the rocking shaft11, has pivoted to its forward end the upper end of a link 24, whoselower end is pivoted to one arm 25 of a bell-crank lever 25 26, pivotedat 27 to the adjacent side frame 5. The lever-arm 26 is adapted, whenthe link 24 is raised, to push against a stud 28 on a link 29, which atone end is suspended by a link 30, pivoted to the adjacent frame 5, andat the other end is pivoted to the stop-motion lever 31. A counterpoise32 on the rocking shaft 11 or the equivalent thereof tends to keep theshoe 10 rocked backward in the position indicated in dotted lines inFig. 4, and thereby through the link 24 keeps an ant-ifriction-roller 33(pivoted on the lever-arm 25) in contact with aconstantlyrotating cam34. This cam is provided with a drop 34a and is secured on a cam-shaft35, supported in bearings in the side frames 5 5n and by any convenientmeans rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. l once foreach sheet supplied by the feeder. The cam-drop 34a is presented to theantifriction-roller 33, so as to. allow the shoe 10 to assume the dottedposition at the instant that a sheet is being delivered by the feeder tothe receiving tape-drum 6. Each time a sheet 1 is fed to the tapes 8 8the cam 34 raises the lever-arm 25 and through the link 24 and lever-arm23 rocks the shaft 15 and moves forward the shoe 10 into the position inwhich it is represented in full lines in the various figures, in whichposition the toe 13 of the said shoe is in the vertical plane whichcontains the axes of the drum 6 and rollers 14. When the shoe 10 is inthe last-mentioned position, there is sufficient space between the undersurface of the toe 13 and the tape-drum 6 to allow of the free passageof onlya single sheet at a time, (this adjustment having previously beendetermined by means of the screw 21,) and so long as the sheet-feederdelivers these sheets singly in proper succession the machine willcontinue working without interruption. Should, however, a double occur,the upper of the two sheets frictionally engages the toe of the shoe 10and drags the said shoe forward to a position such, for example, as thatindicated in dot- A spring 22 between the sleeve' and-dash lines in Fig.4, and thereby through the shaft 11,1ever-arm 23, link 24, bell-cranklever 25 26, stud 28, link 29, and stop-motion lever 3l effect thestoppage of the machine, as hereinafter more particularly described.

For effecting the automatic stoppage of the machine in the event of asheet not being received on the feed-board the following mechanism isprovided: Close to the delivery end of the feed-board 9 one or moregates 36 36 are let into it, (two are represented in the drawings,) anda detector 37, having blades or fingers 38 38, adapted to enter theslots of each of the said grates, is pivoted by a shaft 39 in brackets40 40, fixed near the edges of the feed-board 9. Over this same part ofthe feed-board 9 there is provided a curved plate 41, carried on a rod42, supported in the brackets 40 40, which plate serves to guide thesheets onto the impression-cylinder 3. detector-blades 38 38 passthrough holes 43 in this plate 41. On one end of the shaft 39 is secureda lever-arm 44, whose vibrating end is pivoted to the upper end of aninclined push-rod 45, guided in a pivoted guide 46, and whose lower endbears against a lever-arm 47, pivoted at 48 to the adjacent side frame5. This lever-arm 47 carries an antifrictionroller 49, engaged by a cam50, fast on the be- TheA fore-described cam-shaft 35, and its vibratingend is adapted to engage a stud 51, fast to the before-described link29. Once during each rotation of the cam-shaft 35 the cam 50 presentsthe drop 50 of its periphery to the antifriction-roller 49; but if thesheets 1 are fed regularly to the feed-board 9 the roller 49 does notenter the said drop, being prevented from doing so by the detectorblades38 bearing on and being supported by the sheet then beneath them. If,however, a sheet is not properly supplied to the feedboard 9, as soon asthe drop 50 of the cam 50 is presented to the antifriction-roller 49 theblades 38 of' the then-unsupported detectors 37 37 fall through theopenings of the grates 36, (the roller 49 entering the cam-drop 503,)and through the lever-arm 44, push-rod 45, lever-arm 47, stud 51, andlink 29 the stopmotion lever 31 is operated to stop the machine. Thedetectors 37 37 are returned to their normal elevated position by therise ofthe cam 50, acting on the antifriction-roller 49, after themachine is next started.

Either of the above-mentioned motions of the stop-motion lever 31 iscaused to stop the feeder by opening its driving-clutch 52 and that ofthe printing-machine by the following means: The stop-motion lever 3l ispivoted at 53 to the adjacent side frame 5, and at its lower end it isconnected, through a link 54, with one arm 55 of a bell-crank lever 5556, pivoted at 57 to the side frame 5'. The second lever-arm 56, asshown most clearly in Fig. l, acts as a detent to a lever 58, which inturn acts as a detent to a weighted lever 59 59, which, like the lever58, is pivoted to the frame 5. The lever 58 isprovided with aninclined'abutment 60, adapted to engage with a stud-or projection 61 onthe Weighted. lever- 59 to hold the latter in its normal or setposition, in which position it is represented in the drawings. frame toprevent the lever 58 from moving beyond its setting position. At the endadjacent to the before-mentioned projection- 61 the Weighted lever 59 isadapted to engage? a stud G3 on the link 64 of the ordinary handoperatedclutch-controlling mechanisnnwhile at the other side of the fulcrum 65of the said lever a stud 66 is provided to engage in the slot 67 of alink 68, pivoted to the stopping-V lever 4 of the printing-machine. Theupper end of the link 64 is provided with a slot' 70, with which engagesa pin 7l on the ordinary controlling-handle 72, and the'lower end of thelink is pivoted to a leverarm- 73, (hereinafter termed astopping-lever,) secured to a rocking shaft 74, which also carriesanother leverarm 75, connected by a link 76With the ordinary clutchlever77,controlling the clutch 52.

T he upper end of the stop-motion lever 31 is formed with a curvedcam-surface 7S,which projects into the vertical path of anantifriction-roller 79, Fig. l, carried on the pileboard 2. By thisarrangement the said rollerl acts on the cam 78 and effects the stoppageof the feeder when the pile-boardreaches its highest position and thesheets have all been removed therefrom. S0 is the guide-plate,

-against which the front of the pile lis stacked.

When the stop-motion lever 31 is operated in either ofthe Wayspreviously described, the bell-crank detent-lever 55 56 is released fromthe lever 58, and the Weight 59a on the lever 59 overcoming theresistance presented bythe engagement of the projection 6l andabutmentGO forces the lever 5S into its inoperative position and throughthe stud 63, link 64,v stopping-lever 73, shaft 74, lever-arm 75, link'76, and clutch-lever 77 opens or releases the clutch 52, and therebystops the feeder. Simultaneous with this stoppage of the feeder the stud66 on the weighted lever 59 59a acting upon the lower end of the slot-67 operates the stopping-lever 4, and thereby effects the stoppage ofthe printing-machine. The slot 67 allows of the stopping-lever 4 of theprinting-machine being actuated by the attendant irrespective ofthebefore-described automatic control mechanism. The slotted connectionbetween the link 64 and handle 72 fulfils a similar function in respectof the feeder.

I clainil. In an automatic control mechanism for an automaticsheet-feeder and the machinev it feeds, the combination with theverticallyadjustable pile-table, the two stoppin g-levers and thetape-drums of such feeder and machine, of two vertical links one pivotedto each stopping-lever, a loaded lever engaging the two links, adetaining-lever for the loaded lever, coperating projections onv thesetwo levers for eecting said detention, ay detent engaging thedetaining-lever, av stop-action 62 is a stop rigid on the leveroperatively connected with the detent, a link pi voted to thestop-action lever, a guide for guiding the link longitudinally,projections on the link, a pivoted bell-crank lever and a lever-armadapted to engage the projections on the link, rotating cams engagingthe said bell-crank lever and lever-arm, a rocking shaft over thereceiving tape-drum, bearings for the rocking shaft, a lever-arm fast onthe rocking shaft, a link operatively Aconnecting said arm and thebell-crank lever, a split sleeve adjustable on the rocking shaft, aforwardly-projecting shoe adj estable on the split sleeve, and extendingdown'close to the periphery of the receiving tape-drum, a pushrodabutting against the cam-engaged leverarm, a. lever-arm pivoted to thesaid pushrod, a rocking shaft fast to this lever-arm, detectors fast onthe rocking shaft and adapted' to bear on the sheets passing over thefeedtable, grates in the feed-table for receiving the detectors, and aguide-plate over the grates with perforations for the passage of thedetectors substantially as set forth.

2. In automatic control mechanism for an automatic sheet-feeder and themachine it feeds, the combination with the two stoppinglevers and thevertically-adj estable pile-table of the feeder and machine, of twovertical links onev pivoted to each stopping-lever, a loaded leverengaging the two links, a detaining-lever forthe loaded lever,coperating projections on these two levers for effecting said detention,a detent engaging the detaining-lever, a stopaction lever operativelyconnected with the detent, a cam on the stopaction lever and aprojection on the pile-table adapted to engage the said cam forreleasing the loaded lever substantially as set forth.

3. Inv'automatic control mechanism for anV automatic sheet-'feeder andthe machine' it feeds, the combination with the tape-drums, thestopping-levers and the stop-action lever operatively connected with thesaid stoppinglevers, of a link pivoted to the stop-action lever, a guidefor guiding the link longitudinally, a projection on the link, a pivotedbellcrank lever adapted by one arm to engage the projection on the link,arotating cam engaging the other arm of the bell-crank lever, a rockingshaft over the receiving tape-drum, bearings for the rocking shaft, alever-arm fast on the rocking shaft, a link operatively IOC engaging thelever-arm, a push-rod abutting against the lever-arm, a lever-armpivoted to the push-rod, a rocking shaft fast to this lever-arm, adetector fast on the rocking shaft and adapted to bear on the sheetspassing over the feed-table and a grate in the feedtable for receivingthe detector substantially as set forth.

5. In automatic control mechanism automatic sheet-feeder, thecombination with the tape-drums, the stopping-lever and the stop-actionlever operatively connected with the said stopping-lever, of a linkpivoted to the stop-action level', a guide for guiding the linklongitudinally, a projection on the link, a pivoted bell-crank leveradapted by one arm, to engage the projection on the link, a rotating camengaging the other arm of the bell-crank lever, a rocking shaft over thereceiving tape-drum, bearings for the rocking shaft, a lever-arm fast onthe rocking shaft., a link operatively connecting said arm with thebell-crank lever and a shoe on the rocking shaft extending down close tothe periphery of the receiving tape-drum, subst-antially as set forth.

6. In automatic control mechanism for an. automatic sheet-feeder, thecombination with the feed-table, the stopping-lever and the stop-actionlever operatively connected With the said stopping-lever, of a linkpivoted to the said stop-action lever, guides for guiding the linklongitudinally, a projection on the link, a lever-arm adapted to engagethe said projection, a rotating cam engaging the leverarm, a push-rodabutting against the leverfOr au arm, a lever-arm pivoted to thepush-rod, a detector fast on the rocking shaft and adapted to bear onthe sheets passing over the feedtable and a grate in the feed-table forreceiving the detector substantially as set forth.

7. In automatic control mechanism for an automatic sheet-feeder, thecombination With the tape-drums, the .stopping-lever and the stop-actionlever operatively connected With the stopping-lever, of a link pivotedto the stop-action lever, a projection on the link, a pivoted bell-cranklever adapted by one arm, to engage the projection on the link, arotating cam engaging the other arm of the bellcrank lever, a rockingshaft over the receiving tape-drum, a lever fast on the rocking shaft, alink operatively connecting said arm With the bell-crank lever and ashoe on the rocking shaft extending down close to the periphery'of thereceiving tape-drum, the said shoe and rock-shaft being rocked by thecam backward and forward a definite distance for each sheet delivered bythe feeder and being free to swing a farther distance in one directiontoeffect the operation of the link projection and consequently thestoppage of the feeder substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as myinvention Ihave hereuntosigned my name in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

EDWARD THOMAS CLEATHERO.

IVitnesses:

WARWICK H. WILLIAMS, WALTER J. SKERTEN.

